It was an actually impossible goal with which France prevented the semi-final knockout at the European Handball Championship. Was everything going well? Opponent Sweden protests.
Crazy goal with big consequences: France’s Elohim Prandi’s goal in the semi-final of the European Handball Championship against Sweden caused admiration but also a lot of discussion after the game (34:30 nV).
It is now known: The Swedish association has lodged a protest against the result of the game. Sweden’s team manager Hanna Fogelström is quoted in the newspaper “Expressen” as follows: “We discussed with the association management, but also with players and those responsible, and examined whether we should protest against the fact that they did not carry out a VAR check afterwards.”
“It’s important that we stand up for fair play”
She continued: “We don’t know what it will lead to, but it is important that we stand up for our values and fair play.”
The directly converted free throw by backcourt player Prandi, with which the eventual winners France saved themselves into extra time when the game had already expired, was “beyond good and evil,” said Prandi’s teammate Kentin Mahé.
“That’s his extra class that he brings with him with this rocket arm,” added Mahé. However, there will probably be “talks about it, a debate will be created around this action,” the backcourt player suspected and admitted: “You don’t see a goal like that every year, it also feels like he’s jumping to get a better free one to get poor.”
Sweden’s goalkeeper does not want to make any comment
When looking at the slow motion, you could see that Prandi’s foot came off the ground too early and the hit was therefore irregular. The referees Gjorgji Nachevski and Slave Nikolov from North Macedonia, who officiated the World Cup final last year, decided not to use the video evidence.
It was “an incredible goal,” admitted Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Palicka, who had touched the ball. He didn’t want to make any comment about the fact that the hit counted.
Prandi’s direct free throw, which hit the bottom edge of the crossbar into the goal, saved France in extra time. The record world champion prevailed there and is now aiming for his fourth European Championship title on Sunday (from 5:45 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online).
Unless the Swedes’ protest is successful.